From the lecture hall to the international stage

Videos from TEDxHochschuleBremerhaven now available online

Short, entertaining talks on current and sometimes very complex topics – that's what makes the popular and well-known TED Talks format so special. Often in English, they are available online and free of charge as videos to anyone interested. Last October, the first TEDx conference took place at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences. Eleven speakers devoted their short presentations to the overarching theme of ‘Out of the blue’. The event was organised by university graduate Marnie Knorr and Prof. Dr. Rabea Diekmann, Vice-Rector for Research, Transfer and Continuing Education, with financial support from the Dieckell Foundation. Anyone who missed the conference can watch most of the TED Talks online at www.youtube.com/@TEDx/videos (search term: TEDxHochschuleBremerhaven).

TEDx is a programme in which local, self-organised events are held based on the model of the major TED conferences. Under the motto ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’, live talks are recorded in front of a maximum audience of 100 and made available online as TEDx Talks. Bringing this format to Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences had long been a wish of Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Alexis Papathanassis: "TED Talks have a very wide reach worldwide and appeal not only to specialist audiences but also to the interested public. Because the videos are published online by TEDx after the conference, they are a great way to present the university and the city of Bremerhaven to an international audience in the long term."

In addition to lecturers and students from the university, researchers from other scientific institutions in the city also presented their ideas. "We work very closely with the institutes in Bremerhaven in teaching and research. For this reason, we quickly decided that we wanted to offer a platform not only to university members, but also to our cooperation partners. This allows us to show the international community how diverse Bremerhaven's scientific landscape is," explains Prof. Diekmann. In addition, the organisers attached great importance to ensuring that the presentations dealt with innovative issues. Accordingly, topic suggestions were accepted and potential speakers were specifically approached. The result was a colourful programme covering a wide range of scientific disciplines, from marine biotechnology and the potential applications of artificial intelligence to future issues such as migration into space.

Even though it may not be apparent from the finished videos, the organisational effort involved was considerable. ‘To ensure quality, there are precise specifications for lighting, sound and camera editing, among other things, which must be adhered to. For this reason, we were unsure for a long time whether we could actually hold the talks at the university or whether we would have to move to another venue,’ explains Prof. Diekmann. Ultimately, however, all technical and organisational problems were resolved. The university was also able to draw on the expertise of Marnie Knorr. She organised the first TEDxBremerhaven conference in 2019 and is therefore familiar with the format's requirements. "I obtained a licence from TEDx to organise the event and studied the guidelines intensively. This meant I knew what we had to pay attention to and where we could be creative ourselves," she explains.

The support for the production was tremendous: parts of the stage set were provided by the Bremerhaven City Theatre, and components for the stage lighting and sound mixing were provided by the university's General Student Committee. Thanks to a generous donation from the Dieckell Foundation, the missing technical equipment was procured and a professional film team of university graduates was hired. They filmed with three cameras from different angles and took care of editing and post-production of the videos. Computer science student Franjo Gießel ensured that the speakers could be heard clearly both in the event room and in the videos. ‘It's incredibly fun to work together with a team of dedicated people and to create something that serves the general public,’ says Marnie Knorr. After a rigorous review process, which included answering questions about the speakers, most of the TED Talks have now been published on the official TEDx YouTube channel.